This is the Chinese Year of the Tiger but lacking a tiger I have featured another feline, a stylised lion from my collection of mid-century ceramics. The Tiger is known as the king of beasts in China and the Tiger sign of the Chinese Zodiac symbolises strength, courage and the defeating of evil.
This modernist coin bank was designed and produced in the 1960s by Baldelli Ceramics, an Italian pottery in Perugia. It is not only beautiful but practical with a coin slot along its back and a stopper on the underside. Originally given as a reward for opening a bank account and later sold in American department stores, they are less common than the mid-century Bitossi ceramic animals and becoming harder to find.
The past two years have been very difficult as the Covid pandemic has spread world wide, leading not only to huge loss of life and severe illness but to social and political unrest as governments struggle to cope with its impact. Strong, well organised and humanitarian leadership is needed to steer us through this crisis – Tiger attributes which will be essential in the year to come.
This smiling big cat brightens up a gloomy start to 2022, hopefully things will get better.
Retromode 